The association between vitamin D deficiency and type 2 diabetes mellitus in elderly patients.

AIM

to identify the association between vitamin D deficiency and type-2 diabetes mellitus in elderly population.

METHODS

a study was conducted at the geriatric clinic of Cipto Mangunkusumo Hospital in November 2007, with a cross-sectional design. The accessible population of our study were patients with type-2 diabetes mellitus and non-diabetes mellitus patients who visited the clinic for treatment. The subject criteria were: patients >60 years old with operational definition of type-2 diabetes mellitus, and willing to participate in the study. Data collected included characteristics, such as age, sex, education level, history of family illness, frequency of outdoor activity, duration of direct sun exposure in their outdoor activities, history of using sun protector; and the laboratory data such as 25(OH)D3 serum level, calcium and albumin serum level. Data analysis was done by Chi-Square test and multivariate analysis was performed by logistic regression technique to control some identified confounding factors. All data processing and statistical analyses were done with SPSS 11.5 for windows.

RESULTS

we found a total number of 78 subjects. Of them, 40 subjects were with DM, and 38 subjects without DM. Most subjects were female (66.7%), and obese (44.9%). Direct sun exposure of most subjects was indicated by the frequency of outdoor activity of more than 3 times a week (74.4%). Duration of exposure in most subjects was less than 15 minutes (43.6%), with application of sun protector agent (56.4%). The prevalence of vitamin D deficiency was 78.2%, with a cut-off of <50 nmol/L.

CONCLUSION

sex, BMI and the use of sun protectors proven as variables are associated with vitamin D deficiency. The association between vitamin D deficiency and type-2 diabetes mellitus cannot be proven statistically in our study (p=0.482; OR=0.8; CI=0.5-1.3).